A Pirates of the Caribbean Dream
by PippinStrange
Summary: I, Natalie Gonzales, was on my way to the market on a normal day. In a space of five minutes, pirates had invaded the island, killed my husband...destroyed my livlihood. They left me with naught but a warning. based on an amazing, epic dream I had R&R!
1. Pirates!

**[This is based on a dream I had. When I woke up, I was dying to get in on paper! This darn thing has taken me a week to write, and I've been quite impatient to throw it out there for you all to read. Please enjoy!!!**

**Warning...this is what my mind does at night. It may seem a little crazy and unbalanced, but bear with me. Also, prepare for some thematic elements.**

**"Ye Be Warned"

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**

Chapter One

Pirates!

I was on my way to the marketplace when it happened. I walked lazily down the sunlit, sandy road, humming a tune to myself and swinging my breadbasket. My husband, Dominic, was at home, fixing our roof from a terrible wind storm. Since we'd passed through the storm with our small house and animals relatively unharmed, I decided to splurge and buy a small cask of wine and some fresh oranges, recently imported. I was excited to surprise my husband with them, for he thought I was only visiting an aqquaintance in town. I was excited to spoil him for all his hard work.

I came over the crest of the breezy hill, enjoying the freedom of its freshness blowing my light brown hair wildly about. I was excited to go home to Dominic and fix him the best meal he'd ever have. It was a brilliant, beautiful day, and we were celebrating life.

I stopped, noticing a large ship in the harbor that I didn't recognise. It was broad and flew no colours. I cocked my head, trying to identify it. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me...was it the new ship that King George was sending to transport flour and spices? Were they giving our tiny island the honor of painting its name on the side? Or was it a group of strangers, lost in the storm and stopping for a bearing to their destination?

I trotted down the path and onto the main road, letting it lead me into the loud, rambunctious town. It was louder than normal today. Surely the excitement and repair work after the storm caused everyone to be in town for something. Shouts and hollers were coming from the main square.

I walked into the center, passed the butchers shop and the linens store, and suddenly found myself in a huge crowd. They were screaming in panic, and fleeing the direction I had just come from. I fell down, knocked over by the overwhelming refugees from who-knows-what.

"What's going on?" I cried, trying to stand. The people, tangled, crying, and horrified, only continued to push and trip over me. "Is there a tsunami?" I shouted, clawing the dust and sand from my eyes.

My face finally came up from the ground as I looked around, the ignorant villagers having mostly gone past me and fled for the high grounds.


	2. Welcome to Hell

Chapter Two,

Welcome to Hell

* * *

In front of me were a pair of black, polished boots. I looked up slowly to see the identity of their bearer. 

"Evenin', lady," said the man, stroking his beard. His eyes glittered cruelly. His clothes were tattered and worn. A scabbard hung at his belt, and a broad hat adorned his head and nearly hid his hooped earrings.

"Who, who are you?" I struggled to my feet.

"Nothin' I be of consequence," he replied, looking at me eagerly. "Just a humble sailor lookin' fer me place in de world."

I hid a tremble. Pirates! The scourge of our ocean!

"And who ar' ye?" he asked in return.

"Natalie Gonzales," I replied uneasily.

"Welcome to hell, Miss Gonzales." he said nastily.

"Oh... it is not hell, here, actually," I said, trying to think of something to kill him with. _Anything! But I had nothing but my basket! _"It's a very nice place."

"Fer me... Not to be for ye," contradicted the pirate.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you," I said, avoiding his eyes. I scooped up my crushed basket and turned to leave the direction I'd come. "I must be off."

A tall, hulking man blocked my exit. More raggedy and tattered than the first, a black beard draped down to his waist. He held a dagger in his eyes, fingering it casually. "Where ye be off to?" he asked, his black eyes darting right and left.

"Home," I said tersly, my insides quavering. All I could think of was Dominic, at home, alone... without warning...

"I wouldn't be off too quickly if I be ye," Blackbeard grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me backwards into the first one.

"We wants to talk with ye," said the first, laughing.

I screamed and tried to fight him...

* * *

**BTW, the spellchecker is...gone. So be forgiving towards the hasty mistakes! No flames for minor thingys!**


	3. Captain Barbossa

Chapter Three,

Captain Barbossa

* * *

The Pirate held my arms with an iron like grip, making kissing noises with his lips.

"Burnsy!" erupted a deep, throaty voice.

The first man immediatly released me. I backed away until I reached a wall where I could go no further.

The man who had shouted was obviously the pirate captain. He was refined and gentlemanly looking, but more intimidating than the others. He was brown all over save his silver beard and blue dresscoat.

"Burnsy, ye need to be more polite to the wimmin folk," said the Captain.

"Sorry, Cap'n Barbossa," mumbled Burnsy.

"Now, tell me, missie, where be yer parents?" he asked kindly.

"I don't have any," I replied, my voice shaking.

"Yer husband, then?" he tried.

"I don't have one..." I lied, wondering if it was the right thing to do.

"Really?" the Captain said, glancing at Blackbeard. Blackbeard stepped forward and gave me a backhanded slap across my face. I fell to the ground, placing my hand over my cheek where a cut began to bleed.

"Blackner, that 'eren't very nice," said the Captain. "Stop steppin' outta line, or I hang ye from the mast by yer big toe."

"Please, what do you want?" I managed.

"Well, we managed to clear out yer inventories in yer bar and bank," the Captain laughed rudely. "But we 'aven't quite settled our lust for blood."

I cringed. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Do I need to?" He placed a hand on his sword hilt.

"Wait!" I said quickly. "I'll make a deal with you."

"A young lady, bargaining? Gambling with 'er life?" he chuckled. "T'ain't proper, but I'll listen."

"I have some savings," I said, peering at him through my left eye, my right beginning to swell and shut. "Buried near my home."

"Ginger, Sawyer!" the Captain shouted to two others hiding behind the palms. "Follow the crowd of cowards. Kill anyone on that end of the island. An' start diggin' near any cabins ye come across."

"No!" I shouted, standing. "Let me give you gold! I have gold. I'll give it to you, if you promise to leave us unharmed!"

"Why let ye give me money, when I can jest take it?" asked the pirate.

"Because I'm the only one who has the key to the chest," I cried. "And it also is hidden. Let me get it for you. I beg of you. You can have it all!"

The pirate thought for a minute and shared a look with Blackbeard and Burnsy. Finally he sighed. "I guess ye can go ahead. No tricks, now. Give us de gold, and we leave. Deal?"

I shook his grimy hand. "I'll fetch it immediatly." I turned and began to run. I had not gone two paces when I halted and whirled to face them, saying, "And don't try to follow me and kill me as I uncover the gold! There is naught but three pounds in each container and I only know where they are buried. Trust me to bring them to you, and I will."

"Ye 'ave the humble word of us poor pirates," The Captain smiled, bowing.


	4. Dominic

Chapter Four,

Dominic

* * *

I turned and ran up the steep incline onto the grassy knoll. I could taste the salt on my lips from the tears swiftly flowing from my blackening eye. I struggled as a brisk wind came from the ocean and whipped my hair in my face and my skirts about my ankles, tripping me and forcing me to my knees. 

I jumped to my feet, ripped my bothersome skirt off, and continued running in a pair of indecent and un-ladylike trousers that I had slipped on earlier. I had borrowed them from my husband just to save myself the embarressment of the wind blowing my skirt up in front of people, but now, it didn't even matter. I could sprint as fast as I wanted and I didn't care if a fellow villager saw me.

I gasped in relief at the sight of our home, our little cabin, thankfully still intact. I heard that most pirates burned their targets after looting them.

The door was slightly askew, as if bumped too hard and torn off its hinges. A sickening feeling rose in my stomach as I shoved the door aside and rushed into the main room, where a small stove, table, and two chairs abided.

"Dominic?" I whispered, looking around. Everything looked normal. But where could my husband be?

"Dominic, are you here?" I said urgently, walking around the table.

And there, just on the other side, lay Dominic. Spread across the floor in a contorted shape, blood poured freely from a wound in his side just below the ribs.

I began to hyperventilate. The smell of blood was overwhelming, and fresh sobs jerked themselves out of me. I fell to my knees and grasped Dominic's face in my hands.

"DOMINIC!" I screamed uncontrollably. "Please say something!" I leaned forward and kissed his forehead, then his lips. His head was a heavy weight in my hands like a cannon ball. I set it gently against the floor and lay my head against his chest.

"Heartbeat!" I said. "God, God! Please! Make his heart beat!"

I was shaking so violently that I could feel nothing. There was nothing but an empty silence save my own spectre-like cries.

I felt his wrist..._surely, there had to be a pulse! A rhythm of some kind! _

Nothing.

* * *

**I know I spelled Dominic wrong. ;-) The proper french spelling is "Dominique" but it was just too fancy for me. Let's just say Dom's mother felt the same way when she named him. **


	5. Recovering the Gold

Chapter Five,

Recovering the Gold

* * *

My hands were in a twitching, spaztic motion from shock. _He can't be dead. He couldn't be dead. He can't die. Dominic! You can't leave me here alone! Oh, God, what am I going to do? Help me...what should I do..._

"Control," I told myself, standing. "Control yourself, Natalie. Get the gold, get the gold...you could save someone elses' husband..." I forced myself to leave my precious husbands body and walk with faked calmness to our bedroom, the only other room in the tiny cabin. I opened the tiny box beneath our bed, pulled out a small brass key, and left the house, not daring to look at Dominic for fear I would forget my mission and never leave his side.

I dug beside the doorstep and pulled up a tiny chest. Then I ran three paces to the left, two the right, and dug in the small sand-pit. There, I unearthed a second one, unlocked it, and emptied its contents into the first. This tiring, simplistic process I repeated over and over, until there were small holes all over our property and the first chest was full of tiny gold coins

_The wind has probably blown away my skirt,_ I thought ruefully_. I can't go back to those vicious dogs without one. It would be an unneccessary temptation for them._

I hesitated at the doorway, took a shuddering breath, and stepped inside. I rushed into the bedroom, jerked one off a shelf, and slipped into it. Then I rushed back out, only pausing for a moment to look at my beautiful Dominic.

He looked so pale and hurt. I longed to gather him in my arms and just tell him goodbye...

Just then, I remembered my husbands small pistol. _Should I take it? _

It was no use now. One shot would save me one second and kill only one pirate. And that pirate would soon be replaced with another.

"Be brave, Natalie," I whimpered, leaving the house. "Be brave."


	6. Mark Me Words

Chapter Six,

"Mark Me Words"

* * *

I gathered the chest and walked slowly back to town, only a five minutes walk really, but I took it slowly. I dreaded facing these brutal lunatics with the knowledge I was alone in this wide, wide world. I clenched my teeth to keep myself from turning back to my home and sobbing my eyes out.

Three lone figures were waiting at the edge of town for me, Burnsy, Blackbeard, and Captain Barbossa.

"Ye came back!" the Captain said in a surprised voice.

"I did," I said simply, walking to them. _Make Dominic proud...make him proud..._

I sat the chest down at their feet, knelt, and opened it with the key. "Here's the gold," I pushed it forward and stared at the ground, unable to lift my head lest the tears flow. "Please take it. As a gift. And leave us be."

There was a steady silence.

"Ye're givin' us all dis?" asked Bursny.

"In exchange for your absence," I replied softly.

"We'll take it," said the Captain in a queer voice. He grabbed my chin and forced it up so I had to look at that dark, horrid face. A single, salty tear forced itself from my good eye and made a small trail down my cheek.

"Me'n me shipmates 'preciate yer offer, ma'am," he said, almost kindly. "But we're leavin' ye with a warnin'. I cain't garuntee the next crew of miscreants that drop by here will be as kind. In fact, they probably be worse dan me. Dey won't leave none alive and steal de women." he let go of my chin. "Ye be warned. Ye hear? You cain't say ye dinna know! Mark me words!"

"They are marked," I replied, standing and backing away. "Thank-you for ..." I stopped, too choked up to go on. I was going to give them my gratitude for letting me live.

"I say dis is all bad luck! I say we take de woman and cut 'er throat!" Blackbeard leapt forward, grabbed me by the wrist, and held a warm, red blade to my throat that had already sliced some poor devils' before. "It t'ain't right, Cap'n! I'd say ye gone soft!"


	7. Rescue

Chapter Seven,

Rescue

* * *

The Captain rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Don't tell me ye wouldn't do de same if ye be in me own predicament!" he barked. "Let the wench go fer now." 

"I saw we takes 'er with us! She'd fetch a fair price!"

"No sir," interupted Burnsy. "Tis bad luck bringin' a woman aboard!"

Blackbeard held the blade against my throat. I felt sick and dizzy. _Was this my last moment? Was I joining Dominic in Heaven soon?_

"I dinna care what ye think, even if ye are m'cap'n!" Balckbeard snarled. I could see now he was heavily intoxicated. "I'm gonna kill'er anyways!"

Suddenly, I saw a small, hunched figure approaching from the corner of my eye. He was small, the color of chestnut, with black hair. The man held a tiny, one-shot pistol in his left hand, and held with his right hand...

...a blood seeped wound just below the ribs.

_Dominic._

_He's alive._

_

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_

**If any of you are ready to flame me, don't do it YET! Dom didn't just...just...come back to life like Jesus, okay? lol. It just seems that way. **

**Natalie could NOT feel his heart beating, nor his pulse, earlier because she was hyperventilating and shaking. I don't know if any of you have ever done it, but if you have, you'd know how its impossible to feel a tiny flutter of beats beneath the skin when one is shaking like a tree in a hurricane! **


	8. The Enemy's Exit

Chapter Eight,

The Enemy's Exit

* * *

A shot rang out, and Blackbeard's sword fell from my neck. Then he collapsed, rolling over into the sand. His listless eyes stared unseeing into the sky. Blood dribbled from a wound in his forehead and from his limp, open mouth.

"Agh!" cried the Captain in surprise, drawing his sword and pointing it at the limping figure.

"Dominic," I whispered, hardly daring to beleive it. I approached him slowly, begging I wouldn't wake if it were a dream. I felt slow as if moving through the shallows.

"H-hullo, sweet...heart," Dominic said, the most beautiful smile spreading across his face.

_It's not a dream! He's actually alive! I thought I was never going to hear that deep, resonating voice ever again..._

Dominic had a hard time speaking, pain was flickering in his eyes, and the muscles in his neck were twitching with the strain of holding himself up.

I finally reached out and grasped his hand. It was cold, sweaty, and shaking. With my other arm, I wrapped it around his waist to try and support his weight. He leaned into me, his breath wheezing.

"So, ye DO got yerself a man," the Captain said in disgust, "And now yer man 'as gone and killed me first mate." he sheathed his sword. "Ah well. Best not be overcome with mournin'. He was plannin' mutiny anyways. Burnsy, ye're promoted."

"Th-thank-you, Cap'n!" Burnsy exclaimed in surprise.

"Call the men in," the Captain ordered, staring at Dominic as if he were a lobster crawling from its hole.

Burnsy whistled, and from all directions, swarthy and ugly buccanears in all shapes and sizes swarmed like bees headed for the hive. They went in the direction of the tall, threatening ship in the harbor.

The Captain tipped his hat. "Be seein' ye, ma'am."

Burnsy picked up the chest of gold. "And thank-ye kindly, ma'am. And..." he waited until the Captain had walked two or three paces. "I'm sorry I gutted yer husband... An' I'm glad he killed Blackner and not me for what I done!"

"BURNSY!" screeched the Captain.

Burnsy rushed to catch up.


	9. Bravery

Chapter Nine,

Bravery

* * *

As soon as they disappeared over the crest of the hill, Dominic moaned and sunk to the ground. 

I let the tears flow freely. "I thought you were dead," I sobbed, taking a skirt off myself for the second time and pressing it against his wound.

Dominic winced. "I came out of a dead faint... managed t-to stand...and..." he let out a small cry and waited till the spasm passed. "...and walked to the window j-just in time to see you disappear p-p-past the trees with the gold," he chuckled, but it turned it a gasp of pain.

"Hang on, sweetie. I can see the doctor...he's headed right for us. Be brave." I leaned forward and kissed him soundly.

"B-brave?" Dominic asked when I pulled back. "You're, you're the definition of brav-very. I'm..." he inhaled rapidly and squeezed his eyes shut for a second. "I'm so p-proud of you."

I smiled and kissed him again. "I love you."

"And I you," Dominic said, blinking at me, a questioning look on his face.

"I was afraid I'd never be able to kiss you again," I teased him, brushing his sweaty hair away from his forehead.

"W-well b-behave for now," Dominic scolded, only half-heartedly. "The d-doctor is coming. And..." a deep breath. "And you are wearing m-my pants."


	10. Sunset

Chapter Ten,

Sunset

* * *

That evening, repair work had began in town. On the other side of the island, where a small group of boys made a stand against the invaders, victims were buried and heroes were honored.

The doctor declared Dominic would live, as long as we changed the bandages regularly and gave him plently of fluids so he would not be dehydrated from blood loss. The wound had been severely aggravated from stumbling all the way to town, but it only prolonged the healing process, not stopped it. I watched over him for the rest of the afternoon and left him very little time to be bored, confined to bedrest and no movement. I read to him, rearranged the three peices of furniture to make him laugh, and brought back trinkets from town to entertain him.

That night, when Dominic felt very faint with fiery pain and sick to his stomach, the Doctor told me to help him outside for a little fresh air.

Propped in a chair with three blankets, Dominic concentrated on the sky above, and long blue horizon stretching to eternity, trying to focus on something other than the throbbing wound.

"How is your eye?" Dominic asked.

I peeked at him. "The swelling has gone down, but it well be gray and blue for awhile yet."

"I'm so thankful this was the only scar you received," Dominic said seriously. "If the Captain hadn't shown up, and the men..."

"Stop, please," I said softly, putting a finger to his lips. "It's alright. It's all over. Nothing happened...I'm fine."

He shook his head. "It may not be over, though..."

"We'll be better prepared next time," I laughed. "Don't worry about the future. It will take care of itself. Right now, we're together just like we're supposed to be."

"Very cliche, Mrs. Gonzales." Dominic chuckled contentedly.

"Oh, just watch the sunset, Dom." I joked in an annoyed voice. "Let's just...I don't know...savor the moment."

And so we did.

The yellow orb lowered itself in the sky, dipping behind the purple curtain of clouds. The red sky lit on and off, stars beginning to twinkle in the heights. A calming, rhythmic washing of waves filled the silence, the blue surf riding the sand in, and out..in, and out...

I laid my head on his shoulder while Dominic took my hand gently. And together, we watched the sun set, our hearts full of gratitude for eachother and for life.


End file.
